Digital Sports Desk

Online Destination for the Best in Boston Sports

LA Dodgers

A Dodgers Dynasty to Be

by

Yoshinobu Yamamoto Signs with LA for $325m

LOS ANGELES – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After signing reigning American League MVP Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract earlier this month, the Dodgers have landed star Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto with a 12-year, $325 million deal Thursday, per multiple media reports.

Embed from Getty Images

Yamamato’s deal would eclipse New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole’s deal by $1 million, making it the largest contract for a pitcher in major league history. The Dodgers will also pay $50.6 million in a posting fee for Yamamoto.

The New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays also pursued Yamamoto.

Yamamoto spent the past six-plus seasons with the Orix Buffaloes, compiling a 70-29 record with one save and a 1.82 ERA in 172 games. He has struck out 922 batters over 897 innings.

In 23 games in 2023, he finished with a 16-6 record and 1.21 ERA with 169 strikeouts in 164 innings. Those numbers helped him to his third straight Triple Crown in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball as he led the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts.

Only three pitchers in Major League Baseball have won the pitching Triple Crown three times — Sandy Koufax, Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Yamamoto also has won the Eiji Sawamura Award, which equals the Cy Young Award, three times.

The 5-foot-10 Yamamoto won a gold medal with Japan in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and another in the World Baseball Classic earlier this year.

–Field Level Media

Betts, Freeman Out-Slug Red Sox

by

BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – LA Dodgers all-stars Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman each went 3-for-5 as the 1-2 punch in the lineup as the visiting Dodgers posted a 7-4 win over the Boston Red Sox in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon.

Embed from Getty Images

Betts scored twice and drove in three runs, matching James Outman with a home run for Los Angeles, which won the series and moved to 6-2 in its last eight games.

Freeman and Miguel Rojas each hit two doubles. Freeman’s second double was his 50th of the season.

Outman and Max Muncy also had two hits apiece. The Dodgers totaled 14 hits on the afternoon.

Gavin Stone (1-0) relieved opener Caleb Ferguson, pitching six innings to earn the decision. All four runs he allowed came on three home runs.

Stone’s day ended after Justin Turner and Adam Duvall hit back-to-back homers to start the eighth for the Red Sox.

Triston Casas also left the yard for Boston. Duvall and Casas were both 2-for-4 and combined for three RBIs and three runs.

Red Sox Try to Slow 20-3 Dodgers

by

BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Los Angeles Dodgers will look to continue their hot August when they play the middle contest of a three-game road series against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday afternoon. Los Angeles is 20-3 this month after registering a come-from-behind, 7-4 win Friday in the series opener.

Embed from Getty Images

While Freddie Freeman had four hits and three runs, the return of Mookie Betts for his first-ever road game in Boston was the major story. The former Red Sox star doubled and scored twice.

“I had the time of my life playing here. I think a lot of people do,” said Betts, who was traded to the Dodgers in February 2020 after winning a World Series and an American League MVP trophy with the Red Sox in 2018. “I knew every day you put the uniform on, you’ve got to play well, no matter what. Or the fans, the people, will let you know. … That’s why I enjoyed it.”

Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias (11-6, 4.15 ERA) will aim for his fifth consecutive win when he takes the ball on Saturday. He is 4-0 with a 2.03 ERA in five starts since his last loss, on July 19 at Baltimore.

Urias, the reigning National League ERA champion, has pitched seven innings in back-to-back outings, matching his career high. Last Saturday against the Miami Marlins, he yielded one run on five hits and no walks with five strikeouts.

The southpaw’s hot streak also includes a 12-strikeout performance against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 13.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “You can really finish strong and make it a great year. There’s still plenty of baseball left.”

Urias has made just one career regular-season appearance against Boston, pitching two perfect innings of relief on July 13, 2019. He also pitched three times out of the bullpen against the Red Sox in the 2018 World Series, giving up one run in three innings.

The Red Sox had won five of their past seven games before falling on Friday, a stretch that featured a 17-1 win at Houston in which they set season-high marks for runs and hits (24).

On Friday, Alex Verdugo and Trevor Story homered to help Boston’s 14-hit attack, but it wasn’t enough.

“Obviously, there for like a month and a half, we struggled in the power department,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “But lately some of the big boys are finding their stroke and hitting the ball in the air and out of the ballpark.”

For Story, it was his first homer of the season in his 14th game. He missed the first 112 games while recovering from right elbow surgery.

“I feel like we’re at the point where we’re playing a lot of really good teams,” he said. “We’re going to find out who we are and if we’re going to be in the postseason.”

Boston southpaw James Paxton (7-4, 3.79 ERA) will make the start on Saturday. He has pitched at least five innings in 13 of his 17 starts this year, but he took a loss after allowing seven runs (six earned) on nine hits across four frames on Monday against the Astros.

Paxton has been excellent at home this season, pitching to a 2.58 ERA in 38 1/3 innings. In two career starts against the Dodgers, HE is 1-0 with a 4.85 ERA in 13 innings.

–Field Level Media

Mookie, Dodgers Down Red Sox, 7-4

by

BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – LA’s Freddie Freeman went 4-for-5 with a go-ahead RBI double and three runs scored to lead the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers to a come-from-behind, 7-4 win over the Boston Red Sox in Friday night’s series opener.

Embed from Getty Images

Dodgers’ third baseman Max Muncy had two hits and three RBIs, while former Red Sox OF Mookie Betts doubled and scored twice in his first game as a visitor in Boston, helping the Dodgers to their third straight win and 20th of 23 in August games.

L.A. starter Lance Lynn (10-9) won despite working around 10 hits and three earned runs in six innings.

Evan Phillips notched his 20th save with a scoreless ninth.

Five Red Sox got multiple hits, including OF Alex Verdugo (who was traded for Betts) and SS Trevor Story who both homered.

Verdugo deposited the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning into the bullpen for his second homer in three games.

The Red Sox lead increased to 3-0 in the second as Story hit a two-run homer into the first section of Green Monster Seats. It was Story’s first this season after he missed the first 112 games (right elbow UCL repair).

After allowing a leadoff single in the third, Boston starter Kutter Crawford struck out four straight and five of the next six batters to help him complete five innings of two-run, four-hit ball.

Crawford moved through a 1-2-3 fifth before the visitors struck for three runs in the sixth. A Betts double off the Monster and Freeman’s knock to left started the rally, ending the Boston starter’s day.

With Nick Pivetta (9-7) in, Will Smith’s line double to left got L.A. on the board. Muncy’s RBI grounder made it 3-2, and former Red Sox Enrique Hernandez lined a game-tying base hit to center.

The Dodgers took the lead in the seventh when Freeman ripped a double into left-center that rolled towards the warning track. Two batters later, Muncy lined a two-out, two-run double to plate two more for a 6-3 lead.

Lynn departed with no outs and two on in the seventh, and Brusdar Graterol worked out of the jam. He allowed just one run to score caused by a Muncy throwing error on Justin Turner’s force out.

David Peralta’s sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers another insurance run in the ninth.

–Field Level Media

It’s Raining on Mookie’s Return

by

FENWAY – The rain might wash out Mookie Betts‘ return to Fenway Park.

In better weather, thousands of familiar faces would return to the Fens when the Los Angeles Dodgers begin a three-game series against the Red Sox tonight. The Dodgers last visited Boston in 2019 when a July weekend series marked the only other meeting between the teams since the 2018 World Series.

Highlighting the Dodgers’ returnees is star outfielder is Betts, the 2018 American League MVP who has never played in Boston as a visitor. He was traded to Los Angeles along with pitcher David Price in February 2020. The Red Sox got back three players, two are still regulars for them, outfielder Alex Verdugo and catcher Connor Wong.

Embed from Getty Images

“This will be my first time going back since 2019. I’m really nervous,” Betts said on his Bleacher Report podcast this week. “It’s more just that I haven’t been back in so long. It’s where I grew up, and I don’t know what to expect. … I think it will be fun.”

Betts enters the weekend scorching hot after going 5-for-5 in the completion of a suspended game in Cleveland on Thursday and then 2-for-3 in the series finale that followed. The Dodgers won 6-1 and 9-3, respectively.

Right-hander Ryan Brasier and utility man Enrique Hernandez are two other former Red Sox players who are on the Dodgers’ active roster. Hernandez was just acquired from Boston on July 25.

“I’m sure Fenway is going to show up for (Betts),” Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale said.

The Dodgers will give the ball to 36-year-old Lance Lynn (9-9, 5.60 ERA) on Friday. Lynn is 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA in four starts (25 innings) since joining the Dodgers from the Chicago White Sox in a July 28 trade.

The right-hander, who has allowed a total of one earned run over his past three outings, scattered four hits across seven shutout innings in a no-decision on Aug. 17 against the Milwaukee Brewers. The eventual 1-0 win capped the Dodgers’ 11-game winning streak.

“I think this is kind of what we imagined at the beginning of the season with what our staff is and what it has been since I’ve been here,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said. “Lance fills up hitters during the game. He’s been doing it for a long time.”

The Red Sox return home after dominating in a 17-1 win at Houston on Thursday, splitting a four-game series while earning their fifth victory in seven games.

The recent run has lifted Boston within 3 1/2 games of a playoff spot.

“A lot of people thought this season was over three days ago,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, “but that’s not the case.”

Wilyer Abreu, Wong and Verdugo each had four hits, including a home run. For Abreu, it was the first long ball of his major league career. He made his debut on Tuesday after socking 22 homers in 86 games for Triple-A Worcester this season.

“There’s a reason he’s here,” Cora said. “(Worcester manager) Chad Tracy was very happy with the way he had been playing. He’s a good runner. He’s a good defender. He’s a good hitter.”

Boston right-hander Kutter Crawford (6-6, 3.66 ERA) is slated to make his first career appearance against the Dodgers.

Crawford pitched 5 1/3 no-hit innings before allowing a home run to the Yankees’ Aaron Judge in his latest start, on Saturday at New York. He wound up yielding just the one run and one hit while walking two and fanning five in six innings en route to an 8-1 win.

–Field Level Media

Bello Starts-Off Sox Second Half

by

CHICAGO – (Staff and Wire Service Report)Taking advantage of a starting pitching staff ravaged by injuries, Boston Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello is quickly starting to establish himself as an ace.

Bello has been rolling since late April and will look to continue dominating opposing lineups when the Red Sox open a three-game series against the host Chicago Cubs on Friday night to begin the second half of the season.

Embed from Getty Images

After seeing left-hander Chris Sale hit the 60-day injured list due to a stress reaction in his shoulder blade, the Red Sox suddenly found themselves in more danger when right-handers Garrett Whitlock (elbow) and Tanner Houck (facial fracture) both landed on the 15-day IL.

But Bello (6-5, 3.04 ERA) has come to the rescue.

Over his last 12 starts, the 24-year-old has gone 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA. In addition to allowing no more than three earned runs in each of those 12 outings, Bello has worked at least five innings on 11 occasions during that stretch.

In his most recent start, Bello held the Texas Rangers’ high-octane offense at bay on July 5, surrendering two runs on eight hits in seven innings. He didn’t issue a walk while striking out three.

“The sinker is my best pitch and it always gets me out of trouble, and (July 5) was no exception,” Bello said through a translator. “(July 5) was a really good day for me, everything was working well, the changeup and sinker, and I was glad to be able to get quick outs after those first couple innings.”

Bello has never faced the Cubs.

Right-hander Kyle Hendricks (3-3, 3.04) will oppose Bello and try to bounce back from a rough outing against the New York Yankees on Sunday.

Hendricks was tagged for four runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings, but he escaped with a no-decision after Chicago scored six unanswered runs en route to a 7-4 win.

“That’s a really nice team win, something I think we needed going into the break,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “These guys have fought really hard. The way we’ve come back here lately has been really impressive.”

Chicago has won four of its last six games after going 1-7 over its previous eight. The Cubs have received a boost from right fielder Seiya Suzuki, who is 9-for-22 (.409) with a home run, two RBIs and three runs in his last six games.

Suzuki would be the hottest hitter heading into Friday’s matchup had it not been for Japanese countryman and Boston left fielder Masataka Yoshida, who is on a historic run.

Yoshida has logged seven consecutive multi-hit games, becoming the first rookie in Red Sox franchise history to accomplish the feat since Johnny Pesky did so in 1942. He is batting .517 (15-for-29) with two homers, five RBIs and seven runs during his streak.

If Hendricks wants to contain Yoshida and the rest of Boston’s lineup, he will need to replicate his only previous performance against the Red Sox. On April 30, 2017, Hendricks limited Boston to two runs on three hits across six innings while walking three and striking out six.

The Red Sox and Cubs last met in July 2022, when Chicago took two games of a three-game set at home. Prior to that, the clubs hadn’t faced each other since 2017.

–Field Level Media